Humans live 20 years longer than they did in 1950 and a rising variety of persons are selecting to spend their later many years overseas.
Selling up your house and leaving family and friends behind for a brand new life abroad is a significant transfer which requires severe analysis earlier than taking the plunge.
The month-to-month journal and web site International Living has simply launched its Annual Global Retirement Index, which evaluates the world’s prime locations for retirees throughout classes together with price of residing, healthcare, housing, visas, local weather, and ease of integration.
The new No.1 for 2026 is a sun-soaked nation in Southern Europe whose 1000’s of picturesque islands have made it a tourism scorching spot, however International Living says it has every thing it takes for a everlasting keep as properly.
“Greece’s rise to number one marks a shift in Europe’s retirement landscape,” says Jennifer Stevens, govt editor of International Living. “For years, Portugal and Spain led the way, but recent visa changes and rising costs have retirees looking elsewhere. Greece now offers what many are seeking — a beautiful, welcoming, and affordable European base with accessible residency options and a lifestyle that feels rich in every sense.”
Here’s a take a look at the prime 10 international locations in the 2026 index, which is based mostly on current knowledge, plus enter from International Living’s international community of greater than 200 consultants and expats.
Greece’s Golden Visa program, granting a residence allow to foreigners making a minimal actual property funding of 250,000 euros (about $290,000), is certainly one of Europe’s most accessible, says International Living. It additionally scored extremely on local weather, healthcare and housing.
Patricia Mahan and Dan Matarazzo, from the US, purchased a two-bedroom home for $150,000 in Kritsa, a village in Crete, in 2023. “We wanted to move by the sea,” Mahan told NCS final 12 months. “In an affordable place.”
The different priorities that influenced their resolution had been that they “wanted village life” however “needed to be near amenities like state-of-the-art medical facilities, a nearby airport, weekly farmers’ markets and supermarkets and stores of all kinds to furnish our house.”
Panama is the frontrunner throughout all international locations in the index’s visa/retiree advantages class. It has lengthy been courting US retirees and its Pensionado Program provides spectacular perks: 50% off leisure, 30% off transport, 25% off airfares, 15% off medical payments, and reductions on every thing from electrical energy to consuming out.
“Panama’s healthcare system rivals the US in quality — without the price tag,” the International Index report says. “A hospital stay that might cost $30,000 in Miami could be $3,200 here, including CT scans and medication.”
NCS Travel selected Panama as certainly one of our best locations to go to in 2024. We praised Panama City as the solely world capital with a tropical rainforest inside its metropolis limits and in addition highlighted its previous quarter, a UNESCO World Heritage website. The nation additionally holds over a dozen nationwide parks, together with Parque Nacional Volcán Barú, the highest level in Panama.
Costa Rica was No. 1 in the index’s local weather class and this is a rustic that takes its setting severely. A full 25% of its landmass is protected rainforest, says International Living, and 99% of its energy is from renewable vitality. “It’s also one of the few nations to reverse deforestation, home now to 10,000 plant species and 850 kinds of birds,” the publication says.
Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula is certainly one of solely 5 “blue zones” in the world, areas famend for the longevity of their residents. While not but at retirement age, US girl Kema Ward-Hopper moved together with her household to Pueblo Nuevo in Nicoya in 2018, after she underwent therapy for breast most cancers.
“The health benefits of the blue zone, I think, show up later in life,” she told NCS in 2025. “But we have noticed that we feel better when we’re here. Our cardiac health and lung health seems to be better.”
Portugal is second solely to France in the index’s healthcare class and in addition scores extremely on local weather and improvement/governance.
The nation has ended its Golden Visa program for residential property improvement, however different funding visas stay. International Living says that for many retirees excited about transferring to the nation, “the standard D7 “passive income” visa is very best — requiring proof of regular revenue fairly than massive investments (as little as $1,011 monthly).”
Seattle girl Cynthia Wilson and her husband Craig Bjork had been authorized for the D7 visa and in 2022 they moved to the small city of Marinha Grande, positioned on the Silver Coast shut to the well-known browsing seaside Nazaré.
“I will return to the US in an urn,” Wilson told NCS in 2024. “For Americans, it is cheaper to live here, if you don’t live in Lisbon, Porto or the Algarve. Those places are like trying to live in San Francisco or Manhattan.”
“As many as one million Americans and Canadians already call Mexico home — the largest North American expat population anywhere on Earth,” says International Living.
Mexico scored extremely in the classes for visas/retiree advantages and improvement and governance. International Living’s report says “the highways are excellent, the internet is fast, and the infrastructure is modern. Add to that a remarkably low cost of living, first-rate healthcare, and an easy path to residency.”
Janet Blaser, initially from New York, relocated from California to Mexico 20 years in the past. “I got to Mazatlán, and it sounds so corny, but it just touched my heart,” she told NCS earlier this 12 months. “It was really easy to meet people,” she says. “So I felt really welcomed and like I could do this.”
Italy’s highest-scoring class in the index was the affinity ranking, which is about ease of integration and what International Living calls “gut feeling,” as this is a choice that “involves the heart as well as the head.”
It additionally carried out properly in the healthcare class, matching Greece’s rating of 89 out of 100.
Massachusetts couple Doug and Leah Johnson purchased and renovated a 14th-century residence in the city of Vasanello, positioned in the Italian area of Lazio. It price them simply 9,000 euros in 2019 (a little bit over $10,000).
“The amazing thing in Italy is that they really preserve old buildings. It’s not easy to knock down an important structure,” Doug told NCS in 2023.
He additionally stated they discovered the native individuals very welcoming. “I think much of it is the novelty of having Americans investing, and loving their community,” he says. “Sometimes we go into shops for a cappuccino, or loaf of bread, and they won’t let us pay.”
International Living praises France’s “renowned universal healthcare,” giving it a rating of 97, the highest of any nation on the index. However, that renown overseas is gaining notoriety at residence; French lawmakers are at the moment contemplating a proposal to finish free healthcare for overseas pensioners and make them pay a minimal contribution.
Whatever the final result, France is possible to stay a really enticing vacation spot for retirees, with its successful mixture of local weather, tradition and delicacies.
In December 2021, Mary Jane Wilkie ditched New York for Paris at the age of 79. She told NCS this 12 months that it was the best resolution she’s ever made.
“Ultimately, I knew that I didn’t want to say on my deathbed, ‘I always wanted to move to France but didn’t’,” Wilkie stated.“Once you know what you don’t want to say on your deathbed, you know what to do with your life.”
Healthcare (94) and affinity ranking (90) are the classes during which Spain carried out best, whereas price of residing (75) is a little bit weaker.
Indiana couple Regina and John Zdravich moved to Spain in 2018, ultimately shopping for a house in Garcia, Catalonia, for 165,000 euros (round $184,000). They made the selection after hitting obstacles on an tried relocation to Italy.
The couple had been granted Non-Lucrative visas, a allow that permits non-EU nationals to dwell in the nation with out working or partaking in any skilled exercise, for Spain.
Catalonia has its personal public well being system, which may be accessed by any of its residents.
“John had to have back surgery, we didn’t pay a penny,” Regina told NCS in 2024. “You go and you buy a prescription, and you can use your pocket change.”
Thailand
Thailand was certainly one of the highest-scoring locations in the price of residing class, with solely Vietnam and Sri Lanka scoring larger. It additionally carried out properly on local weather and improvement and governance.
American Jim Dolan and his spouse Som constructed a house in Som’s native Thailand after their US property was flooded in a hurricane.
“Our finances were such that we couldn’t live what was thought to be our dream life,” Jim told NCS in 2024. ““It was right around the time that I was just approaching retirement age. And so we just decided to make the move at that time.”
Jim was in a position to receive a Thailand Marriage Visa and the couple then purchased some land “sight unseen” in Sam Roi Yot, positioned in the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, for round $50,000.
“It’s very quiet. Very peaceful. Very safe,” Jim stated. “I feel safer here in Thailand than I think in any of the cities that I lived in the United States.”
Cost of residing (94) and improvement and governance (90) are the classes Malaysia scored excessive on, nevertheless it had a comparatively low rating (45) on the affinity rating.
“Malaysia provides a novel mix of recent infrastructure, cultural range, and pure
magnificence. With its inexpensive price of residing and the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) program, it’s an more and more well-liked vacation spot for retirees looking for a heat, tropical local weather,” says International Living.
NCS Travel selected the island of Penang as certainly one of our destinations to visit in 2022. We praised it for its delicacies, a large mixture of conventional Malay, Chinese and Indian dishes, and for the historic structure present in its capital George Town. Penang Hill is a UNESCO Biosphere reserve crammed with glorious mountaineering trails and greater than 200 species of orchids.